1990 In Video Gaming

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1990 In Video Gaming

EVENTS

'' is one of the most bizarre arcade games ever made.]]

Notable releases

Namco releases '' Kyuukai Douchuuki '', '' World Stadium '90 '', '' Final Lap 2 '', '' Pistol Daimyo No Bouken '', which is a spin-off from '' Berabow Man '', '' Souko Ban Deluxe '', '' Dragon Saber '', '' Steel Gunner '' and '' Rolling Thunder 2 ''. They also develop the unreleased prototype, '' Puzzle Club ''.

February 12 — Nintendo releases the '' Super Mario Bros. 3 '' video game in North America . It sells 17.28 million copies, making it the bestselling, standalone video game of all time.

November 21 — Nintendo releases '' Super Mario World '' in Japan as a Launch Title s for the Super Famicom (released for the SNES in North America in August 1991). It introduced the Yoshi character.

Nintendo Of America introduces Squaresoft 's '' Final Fantasy '' video game series to North America.

'', is released later in the year. Though ''Solid Snake'' releases only in Japanese territories, many aspects of the game are incorporated into the next game in the series, '' Metal Gear Solid '', which is a massive critical and commercial success not only in Japan but also in North America and Europe.

Sega releases the '' R-360 '' arcade game, featuring the first 3D - 360° gameplay that physically rotated the real world player.

Origin releases the first '' Wing Commander '' game. It pioneers cinematic storytelling in computer games and eventually led to a movie, TV show, and a series of books.

Sid Meier 's '' Railroad Tycoon '', the first of the "Tycoon" games, is released by MicroProse .

December 14 — '' Commander Keen '' is released as Shareware . John Carmack 's smooth-scrolling Graphics Engine helps it become the first major Platformer on a PC .

Capcom releases '' Mega Man III '' for NES, introducing the characters Rush and Proto Man , Mega Man's slide, and Capcom's character cameos.

Hardware

Camerica releases Codemasters ' Game Genie adapter in Canada and the UK (In the USA, it was released by Galoob )

NEC releases the TurboExpress handheld console

Nintendo releases the Super Famicom 16-bit console in Japan

SNK releases the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES) home console

October 6 — Sega Game Gear released in Japan, launched in North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 1992

November 30 — Sega 's Megadrive released in Europe

Amstrad halts production of the ZX Spectrum , formally bringing to an end that platform's 8 year dominance of the UK home computer market

Business

Nintendo v. Color Dreams lawsuit: Nintendo sues Color Dreams over unlicensed production of Nintendo video games

THQ Inc.: Toy Head-Quarters merges with Trinity Acquisition Corporation

New companies: Eidos Plc , Team17 Software Limited, Natsume Inc.